Betrayal by Lee Nichols

The men wanted to lure Emma there so the ghasts would kill her.
    Great. Sounds like good times , I said. Where is it?
    In my day, it was called the Crossing.
    The Crossing? I’d seen that name before, on one of my endless walks through the village. You mean, like, that playground?
    He gave me directions, and sure enough, they’d built a playground over an unconsecrated cemetery. First a ducking chair as a tourist attraction, and now a kids’ playground over dead bodies. You had to love Echo Point.
    Don’t go alone , he said. The ghasts will be hungry.

7

    I found Natalie in her room upstairs, changing after her run.
    â€œI need a favor,” I said.
    â€œYou won’t fit in my jeans,” she said, pulling on a pale blue wool sweater. “And your feet are way too big for my shoes.”
    â€œOkay,” I said. “First, I would so fit in your jeans. And second—”
    â€œYour butt’s bigger,” she said, zipping her pants with attitude.
    Maybe a little bigger, but she didn’t need to rub it in. “What is up with you?” I said.
    â€œWhat? I didn’t say it was too big.”
    â€œNatalie. What’s wrong?”
    She refused to tell me—for about ten seconds. Then she said, “I like it here. I like my room, I like that Nicholas lays fires and Celeste does the laundry, and that Anatole tries to woo me with his fatty foods. I like Echo Point and Thatcher, even if everyone hates you at the moment. I guess I’m just waiting for the other shoe to drop. This is the closest I’ve been to home in a long time.”
    â€œWell, you’re staying. The Knell said you could be on my team.”
    â€œI know, but Bennett’s gone. They’re not going to let us live here without him. Two minors living alone in a museum?”
    â€œWe’re not alone. There are—”
    â€œGhosts.”
    â€œOh. Yeah.”
    I didn’t want to think about Bennett being gone and whether that meant Natalie and I could no longer stay in the house. I liked it here, too, and didn’t want to leave. And I really didn’t want to agonize over how a guy who says he loves you isn’t supposed to desert you. I was trying to put Bennett out of my mind.
    So I said, “Want to go mess around with some ghasts?”
    Natalie perked up. “Can we?”
    â€œYou’re not scared?”
    â€œWhy would I be scared? I’ve got you around to dispel them. This’ll be fun.”
    I wasn’t sure how other ghostkeepers traveled to fight a couple of ancient ghasts, but Natalie and I walked, and by the time we got there it was dusk.
    â€œIn the playground?” Natalie asked. “Are you sure there are ghasts here? How come nobody’s felt them before?”
    I nodded. “That’s what, um, Edmund told me.”
    I didn’t know how to explain the Rake to Natalie. Yeah, she’d understand that he was a ghost, but she’d want to summon him all the time, which he’d hate. Plus, I kind of liked having him to myself.
    The playground was in the corner of a town park, and we crossed the street and followed a gravel path past the oak trees where people tossed tennis balls for their dogs during the day.
    I shivered in my peacoat. “I don’t like the weather here.”
    â€œYou Californians are wusses.” She eyed the slides and swings.
    â€œI never noticed how creepy playgrounds look after dark.” I looked around. “Maybe we should come back.”
    â€œNo way, man. It only makes it more fun.” Natalie was the girl who goes naked in the Jacuzzi and takes the dare instead fibbing about the truth. Ghasts at dusk were not going to intimidate her. “Here goes,” she said.
    Natalie closed her eyes, and I felt their spirits before she even finished, like needles on my skin. I’d never dealt with ghasts before. They weren’t as dangerous as wraiths, but I still felt their